Pages tagged Surveillance

As we saw in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and now in the aftermath of ISIL’s attacks in Paris, governments respond to these heinous terrorist operations with legislative efforts that seek to restore a sense of security by increasing government surveillance powers. Here in the U.S., we are still fighting to reign in many of the surveillance powers that were enshrined in the PATRIOT Act immediately following 9/11, under which counter-terrorism surveillance programs like the NYPD spying unit operated and under which the bulk collection of US citizen and non–citizen data expanded rapidly.

The second day of AAI’s National Leadership Conference in Dearborn, Michigan focused largely on developing political platforms ahead of the 2016 election. In particular, the domestic policy discussion touched on programs and initiatives that have direct impacts on the lives on Arab Americans. The topics discussed were profiling, Countering Violent Extremism programs and effectiveness, and hate crimes.

Sakira Cook of the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights discussed how profiling is one of the practices that disproportionately impacts minority communities. Giving context to the Department of Justice’s Guidelines on Profiling, she...

Earlier this week the Associated Press (AP) broke a story that revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) operates a large fleet of surveillance aircrafts in various cities across the country under thirteen fake company names. Most of the planes are equipped with high-tech cameras but a very small number of these planes even have the technology to track thousands of cellphones. These flights are normally conducted as part of federal, state and local investigations. The existence of this program is not new news but the size of the fleet was previously unknown.

This week the Senate will consider “reform” bills that claim to limit the NSA’s authority to conduct indiscriminate surveillance. But the proposed version of the USA Freedom Act does not end the bulk collection of U.S. citizens' data, nor does it offer protections to citizens from warrantless surveillance. The Senate should not pass such weak reforms, which instead of rolling back surveillance authority, validates its continuation. If it were to come up as an emergency measure, the Senate should under no circumstances vote for a short-term reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act. Even a 60...

Tea Party luminary Ted Cruz charismatically launched his bid for the presidency this week. And boy, the champion Princeton debater raised the bar high for those who will follow, even if he did immediately hit his head on that very same bar upon resuming his Senatorial duties. Ted Cruz put together quite a show for the 10,000 Liberty University students who were required to attend.